The Monmouth Mall was used by the Jersey Coast Red Cross as a disaster shelter, mostly because people were already there.

"The mall is one of the places we will use, but people were already stranded there before we got involved," said Dan Iradi, who coordinated the blizzard emergency response for the Shore-area Red Cross. "Yes, people went shopping during the blizzard."

Eventually, police and Red Cross volunteers brought stranded motorists to the mall, too, and there were plenty. Hundreds of cars were abandoned along the Parkway, Route 18 and Routes 35 and 36 in Monmouth County.

Richard Wagenblast, a state employee who works as a plow supervisor during snowstorms, said he was "shocked to see how many cars were on the road" once the blizzard hit full tilt.

"It is impossible to plow effectively when so many cars are on the road, or worse, stuck on the road."

Wagenblast became snowbound behind other stuck cars on a highway ramp to Route 18 from Route 36.

"Cars were being abandoned, and those ramps got all backed up," he said. "There must have been 200 abandoned cars up there."

All those cars were driven by people who had one thing in common: They should have stayed home.

In big towns and small towns people got stuck, blocking roads and stopping plows.

"I guess people didn’t understand the severity of the situation until they were in it," said Sgt. Brian Polite of the State Police. "We would have liked more people to heed the ‘state of emergency.’ It means only essential personnel should be on the road."

Non-essential personnel: People exchanging that Christmas sweater from grandma, or looking for a post-holiday markdown on a 3-D TV.

Iradi said the Red Cross teaches people how to prepare for snow emergencies.

"Our website has all the things you should have at home, so you don’t have to go out," he said. "Flashlights, a first-aid kit, three days supply of food and water, things like that. Common sense things, like if you’re going to use canned food, make sure you have a can opener."

And in that advice are three words essential to snowstorm survival: Home. Common. Sense.